Reincarnation: The Clergy of the Unholy

There are games out there that require the utmost of attention to be paid to them if you're going to have any chance of beating, and then there are ones that are easy on the eyes as well as the brain. Reincarnation: The Clergy of the Unholy definitely hails from the latter of those two categories , and this is all down to the format which the developers have chosen to take with it. Reincarnation: The Clergy of the Unholy is the latest in a long-running series of games belonging to the Reincarnation series. These games all fall comfortably within the genre of point-and-click, specifically puzzle-based point-and-click as this game - and this is the case with all of the other Reincarnation games - requires that you solve a (relatively) short problem of the twisted kind. If you're interested, that's because the game's premise is rather unique for a puzzle game and makes it stand out from the average title of this genre.

The exact premise of this game can be described as twisted because the entirety of the gameplay involves you trying to reclaim the soul of a priest back to hell, with you playing the impish and devil demon that is trying to keep up your soul quote. Since this is a point-and-click game there are no complicated controls to learn or key assignments to remember: you simply use your mouse to explore the area around you. This particular game is set in a church, and it is within these church walls that you must do some exploration that involves finding and utilising various objects in different ways.

It's pretty simple to get the hang of exploration since all you need to do to find out if any of the items in the current room are of interest is roll your mouse over them. If the cursor changes when you pop your mouse over the objects, you know it is an object of interest to your miniature quest. Many objects won't be usable but will trigger a small monologue from the impish devil you're playing as. Some of these monologues are intended to be slightly humorous in a fairly dark and twisted sense; they mostly hit the nail on the head and provoke a few laughs every now and then.

The specific items that form part of the puzzle range from keys that open locked doors to padlock codes and even a wine bottle that must be poured into the holy chalice to make the priest (the one whose soul needs stealing back from him) a little drunk and confused. What begins as somewhat of a mystery soon develops into a one-way ticket to hell for this priest as (spoiler alert) you discover that he has a drugged-up boy in his sleeping chambers. After discovering this, there is no question that the priest deserves everything that comes to him.

If this is the first time you've played a point-and-click game before then it is a pretty good place to start as this is one of the better quality games out there. The puzzle itself is rather simple but complex enough to be a little challenging and may even have you searching for the walkthrough solution after a little while. Still, the game could have been a little more difficult to crack since it is such a short adventure when compared to many other point and click games.

It is nice to see a point-and-click game with a bit of a storyline running through it as well as one that has a bit of a different style to the average game of its genre. Many games of this genre are quite tame, with some bordering on the child-like. For example. the Monkey GO Happy series is a fairly light-hearted affair that doesn't really seek to offend or push any boundaries in terms of its storylines, particularly the Monkey GO Happy Marathon series.

Criticism for this title would largely be directed at the game's length, which is fairly short for a game of this type. The whole thing can be solved in under five minutes if you're quick about it, and ten minutes if you really take your time. The graphics do seem a little basic but the design of the church and its rooms are colourful and well thought out enough to be pleasant on the eye. It is this game's dark and twisted style/humour that really sell it, though its lack of polish in the graphics department becomes more apparent when you look at games with a similarly dark premise but comparatively stunning visuals such as Haunt the House. Still, this game is good for a jaunt, and its predecessors should keep you entertained for the foreseeable future.